One Met. Many Worlds. Welcome Shoppers!

Wondering where to go this week to bargain “shop till you drop” for “museum quality” jewelry, artifacts, t-shirts, ladies’ scarves, men’s ties, children’s toys, miscellaneous trinkets & sundries? At The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street of course! After all, the slogan printed on their shopping bags, in multiple languages, is “One Met. Many Worlds.” And one of those worlds is the shopper’s world.

The museum gift shop’s summer clearance is on — until they run out of inventory — and to encourage shoppers, they have slashed the prices on many of their favored items to quickly move that existing inventory out the door — markdowns up to 50% and even 70% — to make way for the newer, forever changing stock, guided by the museum’s current and most popular exhibits.

The scene at the museum’s lower level gift shop last Sunday brought back memories of working at Mays Department Store, back in the seventies, when I was a young college co-ed at NYU. Back then, I worked after classes and every Saturday. On Saturday mornings, at what seemed like the crack of dawn, I’d be readying myself at my post behind the counter in the luxury handbag section on the main floor along with the other salespeople, waiting anxiously for the announcement over the loudspeaker that the doors of the store were about to open. Then the doors would open, and the voice over the loud speaker greeting our customers would be drowned out but the shrilled high-pitched voices of hyper-excited customers, hundreds of them running, racing, though opening doors, in to the store, clutching and waving sales flyers. Once in the store, they’d head for the advertised sales, bounding up the escalators sometimes three steps at time. The mob mentality — instant bedlam.

Then we’d hear the announcement that all salespeople dread — there would be special sale —  for one hour only — in your department! Yep, like Russian Roulette, you’d never know when — while the bullet lay waiting in one of those chambers — the announcement would come on about the special one-hour sale — on the main floor — in the luxury handbag section — where I worked — the bullet to my head and the sound of gunshot signaling the beginning of the race. And their off! Customers would be running and leaping down the escalators, even the escalators going up. Fights would break out between competing customers — literally tugs of war with the competitors grasping and tugging at the leather handles and straps of the desired merchandise. Women and sometimes even grown men — the husbands crying, begging us to check the stockroom, “Please Miss, just one more time,” for that special just-got-have-it item. And at the end of the store day, after the doors finally closed, was clean up time. With the main floor like a wasteland, strewn with mounds of discarded tissue paper, plastic and cellophane bags, abandoned shoes, and the bodies of the exhausted sales people who had passed out, we’d get out the brooms and vacuum cleaners. Sometimes, a stray child or two could be heard crying for its mother.

To many, myself included when I’m on the other side of the counter, seeing or hearing words “Sale” and “Clearance” is like the wave of a the bullfighter’s red cape to the bull. It doesn’t matter the setting — May’s Department store way back when, or the Metropolitan Museum of Art this past Sunday. You get that adrenaline rush as you hunt for that special bargain or your most coveted item. Don’t worry if you can get to the Museum itself, or any or its satellite gift shops, just use your smartphone, tablet, or laptop browser to locate the museum’s website and shop. If you are museum member, you already know you get an extra 20% off the already marked down prices.

My purchase Sunday, after hurriedly picking through assorted t-shirts including one style bearing the iconic image of Andy Warhol, silk scarves inspired by Tiffany glass or the paintings of Monet or Van Gogh, Egyptian-style charm necklaces, pearl chokers, and hand-painted wooden bracelets, among other merchandise, while the Museum announced eminent closing time, and the salespeople warned “any jewelry item not in its original bag or without a price tag or barcode will not be sold,” was a $250 silk scarf reduced to fifty. Another customer flashed me that look that could only mean she wished she had seen it first. I had apparently grabbed the very last one.

The scarf was the work of the fine artist and designer Joo-hyun Chung who takes his inspiration in
the traditional artwork, costumes, architecture and natural treasure of Korea, reworking his homeland’s motifs and symbolism, “aesthetically transforming them into unique design pieces for daily life.” Rectangular bars of bright color are carefully sequenced over a grid of grey and black for a striking effect. I’m not sure whether I should wear it or frame it, so it may end up as some lucky person’s Christmas gift!

Whatever you choose, you know it will be something unique, beautiful and special. After all, you bought it from the Metropolitan Museum of Art! And on sale.

And in the immortal words of Joe Weinstein, founder of J.W Mays, Inc. and Mays Department Stores,  a reminder: "Every Day A Sales Day" — yesterday at Mays, today at the Metropolitan Museum, and tomorrow?  Well, just stay tuned right here, and we'll keep you posted.